FERMA to Install Speed Breakers on Oyo Highway After Student Protests

​IBADAN – The Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) has officially committed to implementing urgent safety measures on the newly rehabilitated Ago-Are/Saki road in Oyo State. This decision follows a wave of protests by students of Baptist Secondary Grammar School, Ago-Are, who raised alarms over the “deathtrap” conditions created by high-speed motorists on the improved highway.

​The students, led by Ayantoye Emmanuel, took to the streets and social media earlier this week to plead for government intervention. They highlighted that while the road’s rehabilitation was a welcome development, the lack of traffic-calming measures put the lives of hundreds of students and staff—whose school entrance sits directly on the busy corridor—at constant risk.

​Speaking to newsmen in Ibadan on Friday, the FERMA Field Engineer for Oyo State, Olatunde Adepoju, confirmed that the agency is moving swiftly to address these concerns.

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​”The project is approximately 98% complete,” Adepoju stated. “The protest was a reaction to reckless driving by motorists following the completion of asphaltic work. We have already coordinated with the Oyo State Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure to ensure that speed breakers and pedestrian crossings are integrated into the final phase of the project.”

​A joint site inspection by FERMA and the Oyo State Public Works department is scheduled for Tuesday, immediately following the Eid al-Kabir break.

​The intervention on the Ago-Are/Saki road is part of a broader regional maintenance drive. FERMA’s Zonal Director (South-West 1), Babatunde Longe, expressed satisfaction with the 1.7 km of sectional repairs already completed. He announced that the agency is also preparing to commence rehabilitation on other critical routes, including:

• ​Ogbomoso – Kisi Road
• ​Igbeti Road
• ​Failed sections of the Ijebu-Ode axis

​Residents of Ago-Are, which hosts the state’s second-largest cattle market, have lauded the federal government’s “Renewed Hope” infrastructure agenda. Local leader Musbau Taofeek noted that the repairs would significantly boost the transport of agricultural produce, though he echoed the students’ calls for wall drainage and speed control to protect the community and market-goers.

​The agency’s 2026 strategic plan aims to prioritize such rural-linkage roads to lower the cost of food transportation and curb the “carnage” often associated with neglected federal highways.